ISSC USB Bluetooth Dongle with widcomm drivers on Windows XP

Last update: 13/02/2007

Ok, here's the deal: I bought a very cheap but very small (that's why I like it) USB Bluetooth dongle. It comes with a communication software (IVT Bluesoleil) that I really don't like: first of all it is really badly localized (I'm italian, and it seems like they used babelfish with no human correction to translate the message strings) and, second, it used to stop working after some time (when I plugged the dongle it seemed not to recognize it anymore; though I might have done something wrong, nevertheless IMO it really is not a very much user friendly piece of software).

I read somewhere that many guys managed to make their USB bluetooth dongle work with widcomm drivers under Windows XP, and after a first unsuccessful attempt I finally managed to do it, too.

The dongle

Just for the record, the USB Bluetooth dongle is an IVT Corporation BTS-1:

What you need

Though the latest widcomm XP drivers version is 5 (as of this writing) I used the version 4 just because I already had it. Mine was actually version 4.0.1.2101.
So you'll need:

the drivers themselves (for example you can get them here http://www.ccandc.com.tw/Driver/BTW%204.0.1.2101%20release.exe. Be very patient, the site might be very slow!)
a btwusb.inf file including ISSC dongle infos (USB\VID_1131&PID_1001\ etc.). The first time I tried it, I used the btwusb.inf included in the driver package but it didn't work. I succeeded when I replaced it with this (download it: right click ...).
some patches to make the drivers work with dongles that are not manufactured by CC&C (http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=215149).

The last point requires you to register to gsm-forum.

What you have to do

Well, let's get it straight:

unplug the dongle!
uninstall every bluetooth driver/software you have (I kept XP drivers, though: everything worked fine)
unpack the widcomm drivers to a temporary folder (the pack is self extracting, it should be automatic)
replace [PATH_TO_UNPACKED_DRIVERS]\btwusb.inf with the one provided by the link above
install the drivers -- don't plug the dongle (I told the installer I didn't have the bluetooth hardware, at the moment)
using task manager kill BTTray.exe, BTSTAC~1.exe and possibly every BT* task (though I guess it's not really necessary, just the first two or you'll be unable to replace the corresponding exe files)
make a backup of C:\WINDOWS\System32\BTNeighborhood.dll and C:\WINDOWS\System32\wbtapi.dll
make a backup of C:\Program Files\Widcomm\Bluetooth Software\BTTray.exe and C:\Programmi\Widcomm\Bluetooth Software\BTStackServer.exe (the directory name may be different: it actually is where you told the installer to place the drivers)
reboot (that's at least one reason to fall in love with linux! ;-))

When the system is on again insert the dongle and everything should work fine (the B icon in the tray bar area should be white, not red).

Note: I actually couldn't verify it, when I installed I still had the btwusb.inf coming with the drivers and it didn't work; so I had to uninstall the dongle (unplugged it, right clicked on "My Computer" => Properties => Device Manager => Devices etc.) and reinstalled it, chosing manual installation, "Have disk" and pointing to the folder where the right btwusb.inf was. I was asked for the location of btwusb.sys, which is in the driver software directory (C:\Program Files\Widcomm\Bluetooth Software\ or whatever).

References

Just google "bluetooth widcomm" and you'll find plenty of them, but you can safely start from gsm-forum:

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